


Manifest

by katydidmischief (cassiejamie)



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Power Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-21
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiejamie/pseuds/katydidmischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it happens, Erik thinks nothing of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Manifest

**I.**  
When it happens, Erik thinks nothing of it – they'll find the mutant and get their proper abilities back. It certainly puts a crimp in his plans, as he and his Brotherhood find themselves sequestered within the mansion, the only place safe enough (Charles says) to keep untrained mutants.

"That's what we are now, my friend – untrained," Charles tells him. "You've never been a telepath, I've never controlled metal."

He still thinks this will be easy. After all, how hard could it be to not listen to another's thoughts?

 **II.**  
Two days. It only takes two days for Erik to feel as though he's going insane: the voices never cease, projected into his mind at all hours. So many varied thoughts... some organized, some chaos, some bitter, some peaceful.

Charles tries, exhausted though he is, to teach Erik how to shield his mind, to keep everyone out. He takes Erik past the line of trees, into the tiny forest; this is where he taught himself, Charles explains, where he learned to control his own mind.

"I was ten when my telepathy manifested."

Erik hadn't known and he's a bit shocked.

It must show on his face because Charles goes on. "Thankfully, back then, it were only a handful of people living in the mansion. People whom were beyond the property were harder to hear, so it wasn't too overwhelming at first."

Still, Erik can't help but wonder how terrified Charles must've been, because he's had a taste of what it's like to hear and feel people not himself in his head. All those swirling emotions, right down to _pain_. That's the worst of it all: he can separate his own emotions from others by the sensation, how they dance on his skin like electricity in his veins, but pain can be overpowering, can strike away all else and fill his every sense.

He looks away from Erik as he thinks of the pain, how enmeshed anger and pain are. Always twined together, and Shaw's voice rings in the back of his mind as it hits him that every time Erik had been full of blood and rage and revenge, Charles had felt it like needles in his joints.

The question slips out as Charles drags himself out of his chair and to the wet earth. "Can you block the pain out?"

Charles gives him a soft smile and asks for no clarification. "No."

 **III.**  
Charles does his best to teach him how to keep others out, but, as they walk back into the mansion, he admits in one breath that it's difficult to ignore people whom are projecting and in the next that it took him many years to be able to control and direct his telepathy.

"I was fifteen when Raven last got one of my stray thoughts."

"How are you still sane?" Erik asks.

"Alcohol, sex, and me," Mystique answers from the sofa.

 **IV.**  
On the sixth day, Erik puts on his helmet. He thinks it'll silence the voices running laps in his mind, but once it is properly on, he understands why Charles hates it.

It's like someone's wrapped Erik's mind in lead and nothing can get in or out. Like he's stuck his head in a void.

It feels unnatural

He sulks in his room for the rest of the day.

 **V.**  
"Can't you do something?"

"Like what, Raven?"

"You learned to control it. Can't you teach him?"

"I'm trying to. But you know it will take time."

"He doesn't have time – it's going to drive him insane. Can't you teach him how to turn it off?"

"Turn it off? It's not a lightswitch, Raven. There's no off, only on."

"What are you talking about? You were always going between normal and telepath."

"Well, that explains a fair amount... There is no off. It's always on, it's simply a matter of learning to keep shields in place and filters. Learning when the thought in your mind is yours or not and whether to ignore it if it gets in. I hear what's projected, whether or not I want to."

 **VI.**   
_Charles!_

The yell wakes him from a dead sleep, his own name reverberating between his temples and Charles is in his chair quicker than ever. (It seems a benefit that his chair is made of steel – Beast had left it at the foot of Charles bed and with a raised hand, he'd pulled it over, if a bit zealously.)

When he reaches Erik's room, the door is already open and he enters without a knock.

Erik is on the floor between the bed and the wall, head resting against the wallpaper. "Charles," he mutters when he looks up, "My friend."

"Close your eyes," Charles starts, intending to give Erik an impromptu lesson in how to block while asleep, but instead he is pulled forward and into Erik's lap.

 **VII.**  
They find the mutant.

Half-drowned, clinging to a rock in a lake in Virginia, she has barely enough energy to stay alive, let alone fix what she's done to them.

Erik sees the red creep in around the edge of his vision and pushes into her mind, eliciting a cry from the girl; Charles, as ever, balances him.

"We're not going to hurt you," he promises, "Hold on."

 **VIII.**  
When she wakes from the ensuing fever, she grovels an apology, stumbling over the words as she cowers.

Charles tells her, "We're not angry, but we need you to undo what you did," and puts both hands onto the arms of his chair. He gives Erik a particularly meaningful look when the girl turns terrified eyes toward him; Erik leans into the wall, echoing Charles words, and refuses to come closer.

It hurts that he even has to be in the room with this girl who can't stop _screaming_. Seriously, how can Charles live like this? How can he be almost giddy at the prospect of getting this horrific ability back? He shudders imperceptibly.

"My name is Charles Xavier," Charles tells her, having been unable to in the frenzy of their first meeting. "And this is my friend, Erik Lensherr."

Erik continues to say nothing. How would one explain the complexity of his and Charles' relationship?

"Magneto," she murmurs in return.

"And what is your name?" He asks.

"Juxta."

"Good name."

Charles looks between them and Erik feels the blip of sadness, feels how Charles knows – already – that this girl belongs to the Brotherhood, not in the school. It feels a hollow victory, this time; before, every new mutant on his side made Erik glad that his side were showing their proper potential, that they were accepting his view (the _proper_ view) about just whom should control this planet.

A few moments of silence pass between them all and then Charles is asking Juxta to swap their abilities back, taking her hand in his own, waiting for Erik to do the same.

 **IX.**  
The students watch from the windows as the Brotherhood leaves, their newest recruit in tow.

Raven smirks when she sees all the faces, and tells Charles, "You'll be wiping the glass for the next six months." It's an old joke between them and he grins back at her. They don't say goodbye; the others don't even look back.

Except Erik, who stops a few feet ahead of Charles, standing between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. He holds his helmet under one arm.

 _We will see each other again,_ Charles tells him, _My friend._

By the time Charles pulls his fingers from his temple, Azazel has spirited them away, but Charles can still feel Erik at the back of his mind for a few seconds. Then there's nothing but a void.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/806.html?thread=115750#t115750) at the [1stclass_kinkmeme](http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/).


End file.
